COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gov. Mike DeWine, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, and Ohio First Lady Fran DeWine took the podium on Tuesday for the latest on the state's response to COVID-19.
As expected, DeWine did announced that fall sports may proceed in Ohio. The order provides that all sports, contact and non-contact, can go forth this fall.
The governor acknowledged that several school districts, particularly in urban areas of the state, have postponed all fall sports due to concerns about coronavirus. DeWine stated that those districts will have the option to play their seasons in the spring.
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In addition, DeWine mentioned that there will not be fans at events, outside of family members. “We will not have spectators other than family members or people very close to that child and we will of course, leave it up to the school to do that," the governor added.
DeWine's announcement regarding sports comes after weeks of anticipation heading into the fall sports seasons. Under Ohio's current order regarding sports, athletes in contact sports must undergo coronavirus testing prior to each competition and spectators aren't permitted to attend games, however, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said earlier this month that isn't the order the state intends to use this fall.
Also from Tuesday's briefing:
DeWine announced that for the first time, all of the Top 10 Counties Ranked By Highest Occurrence of COVID-19 diagnoses in Ohio are rural.
“The good news, positivity is overall is coming down, and we’re also seeing urban areas generally lowering the number of cases," the governor added.
For the third week in a row, tiny Mercer County (pop 41,172) was the top county, with 245.3 cases per 100,000. Other counties with very high incidences included Darke, Lawrence, Meigs and Preble. No county in the top ten list has more than 60,000 residents. The numbers are as of Monday, Aug. 17.